Christine Ohuruogu: My focus was the record, not gold

 
PA

Christine Ohuruogu today admitted her primary goal coming into the World Championships had been to break the British 400metres record rather than win gold.

That record was set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics by Kathy Cook when Ohuruogu was just 11 weeks old but the Londoner set a new best last night as she was crowned champion in a time of 49.41sec.

PA
PA

“It’s a record as old as me,” said the 29-year-old. “It’s the one thing I wanted more than anything, to come back with the record. We’ve been working on it since the start of the season. So it’s a bit surreal, to get there, to win and come home with a national record wasn’t quite what I had in mind. Well, it was but it’s almost too good to be true.”

Her gold here was won thanks to her desperate lunge to the line, denying Amantle Montsho by a mere four hundredths of a second for a second world title, six years after her first in Osaka, Japan.

After last night’s heroics, Ohuruogu admitted she had struggled to sleep, finally nodding off at 4am. She added: “I’m trying to chill as I’ve still got the relay to come on Friday.”

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